Without denying or admitting to the allegations, the following financial representatives have turned in their Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent in the securities cases made against them by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority: New York Registered Rep. Fined $7,500 for Charging Excessive Commissions Enver Rahman Alijaj has been suspended…
Investor Lawyers Blog
Texas Securities Fraud: IMS Securities Settles FINRA Case Alleging Inadequate Supervision of Wholesale Representatives
IMS Securities Inc. has settled a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority case accusing the Houston-based brokerage firm of inadequately overseeing its wholesale representatives. Per the SRO’s claims, IMS Securities allegedly failed to customize its supervisory system to its business in a manner that could allow it to be in compliance with…
NASAA Wants Investment Advisers To Be Banned From Forcing Clients Into Mandatory Arbitration
The North American Securities Administrations Association Inc. wants Congress to put into place a law to bar investment advisers from making clients go through arbitration to resolve their securities claims. They also want lawmakers to make either the SEC propose a rule that would get rid of the pre-dispute arbitration…
Securities Roundup: Venecredit Fined $25K for Working with Foreign Finders, Ex-Merrill Lynch/LPL Financial Rep. Faces Fraud Charges, & BrokersXpress Broker is Suspended Over Private Placement-Related Misconduct
Venecredit Fined $25K for Working with Foreign Finders to Generate Retail Investor Business According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Venecredit Securities must pay a $25,000 fine for allegedly using foreign finders to get new retail investor business. The financial firm has now been censured for two years. The SRO…
Ameriprise Fined $750,000 for Inadequate Supervision of Wire Transfer Requests
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined Ameriprise Financial Services Inc. and American Enterprise Investment Services Inc. $750,000 for failing to properly supervise wire-transfer requests and customer fund transmissions to third parties. Also, the SRO has barred Jennifer Guelinas, an ex-Ameriprise broker, for allegedly forging the signatures of two clients…
New Stream Capital LLC Hedge Fund Executives Face Criminal Securities Fraud Charges
The United States has charged Bart Gutekunst, Richard Pereira, and David Bryson, all New Stream Capital LLC hedge fund executives, with securities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy. Pereira is New Stream’s former CFO. According to US Attorney David Fein, the defendants ran a securities scam to fool investors so they…
SEC Needs to File Securities Fraud Lawsuits Sooner, Rules the US Supreme Court
In Gabelli v. SEC, the US Supreme Court has decided that in some securities fraud cases, the SEC needs to move faster when it comes to filing its case. The ruling could affect agencies nationwide. In a unanimous decision, the justices sided with two officials of Gabelli Funds LLC, who…
Lure of High Returns Make Retail Investors Easy Targets for Securities Fraud Involving Complex Financial Products
In the wake of the recent financial crisis, retail investors, especially those seeking to save for retirement and who lost much when their stock portfolios and mutual funds dropped, are feeling compelled to get involved in complex products that until recently were targeted to their more sophisticated counterparts. Many want…
Virgin Islands-Based Investment Adviser Faces SEC Fraud Charges Involving Alleged Kickbacks
The Securities Change Commission is charging TAG Virgin Islands owner James S. Tagliaferri with securities fraud. The investment adviser is accused of getting kickbacks from putting investors’ funds in companies that were being thinly traded in and then employing a Ponzi-like scam to give clients their supposed “returns.” According to…
ING Groep NV Broker-Dealers Fined $1.2M by FINRA Over Not Retaining Millions of E-Mails
FINRA is fining Directed Services LLC, ING Investment Advisors LLC, ING Financial Advisers LLC, ING America Equities Inc. and ING Financial Partners Inc. $1.2M for failing to keep or review million of email correspondence between ’04 and ’08. The five broker-dealers are affiliates of ING Groep NV (ING, INGA.AE). According…